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She'll never win a Scott Tournament of Hearts but I think its almost time to elevate Anna Hasselborg & team into the upper echelons of curling.

Anna's team has swept aside all the swiss teams, the mighty Princess Muirhead & Russian Anna Sidorova as the biggest threat in the women's game.

The beauty of this team, the synchronicity if you will is being fully powered at ALL positions. There isn't a weakness on this team.

Also, unlike other major dynasty teams (Homan, Jones, etc) the skip/team leader doesn't appear profoundly phased by bad luck or the odd loss. Rachel Homan can get downright moody & disconnected when things unravel although I must say she's much better the last couple years.

Jones is still Jones - but she's 15 to 18 yrs older than the other skips. Jones legacy has been primarily built on Canadian soil - 6 STOHs & that Olympic gold for all ages in Sochi. Her 2 world titles in 6 attempts is the main black mark against her.

Moving forward - I think the major world rivalry will feature Hasselborg vs. Homan. Both teams put up remarkably high and consistent numbers at all positions. Both feature the same lineup over at least half a decade - almost a decade for Homan other than the sub of Courntey for Kreviazuk.

Jones is relatively stable now - but for many years she was the feature attraction with Jill Officer as her on-ice lieutenant. An assortment of leads and 3rds - but the last two 3rds have been great. The heir apparent Kaitlyn Lawes - the moody Cathy O who Jones scorned by cutting her loose for supposed team disharmony.

Lead has been solid nearly 10 yrs - Dawn Askin (McEwen) is still the best lead out there - although Sofi Mabergs from Sweden is gradually gaining ground and almost equal.

The struggle for canadian womens curling supremacy this year will probably feature Rachel Homan vs. Kerri Einarson, Einarson is a monster shooter now - but still not quite at the level of Homan & Hasselborg.

Val Sweeting is adjusting to playing 3rd, still very much a wild card. Front end is very good - still nowhere near the Jones or Homan fronts, not even in same galaxy as Mabergs & Agnes who might be slightly better than either the Homan or Jones front side.
I actually think the Jones front end might be the best in the business right now - Peterman is superior on a full palate of curling shots to Officer - not nearly as strong a brusher as Jill, not even close to Jo Courtney (the best ever)

The reality will strike Jones fans hard. Jennifer no longer makes enough shots to compete on a regular basis for canadian or world gold.

What will hold back JJ this year (and next season if she stays in the game) is JJ. Declining shot percentages (some of it based on playing too many hi-risk shots) will see Jones fall more routinely than ever before to previously lesser teams (Einarson, Schiedegger, Homan, etc.)

JJ's still got her ticket to the big show, the STOH - where she'll go after a record 7th Scott title. But her main hopes rest on other teams knocking off the biggies. (ie. Homan in Ontario, Einarson in Manitoba, Schiedegger in Alberta, even Krista M. in North Ontario.

If Homan, Einarson, Schiedegger, McCarville all show up this season I really dont like Jen's chances for gold - outside shot for bronze might be the deal.

But right now the top dynasty team in women's curling - still getting better is Hasselborg.

Even the normally emotionless Homan seems a bit terrified of her.

And Jones is similarly terrified on canadian soil of Homan.

Hasselborg, with her level of power should easily make her way to the worlds. Her main euro-threats will no doubt be Tirinzoni, Eve Muirhead and the top running asian team.

Don't know who can stop Anna H if she's running on all cylinders. Homan is the top shot-pelter but Hasselborg is better. The other canadain teams just miss a few too many shots to stand up to Hasselborg.

Fleury has yet to make any noise with her new all-Manitoba team (ie. remnants of Team Einarson)

I think she'll be pleased with her new 3rd, the always improving Selena Njgevon (formely Kaatz) who finally came out of her shell last season and almost nabbed a canadian championship in a spirited contest vs. Jones.

Can't put her in the Top 5 - quite yet. McCarville is a proven commodity who usually doesn't start curling til later in the season due to job committments.

quote:Originally posted by Manitoba Legend Fleury has yet to make any noise with her new all-Manitoba team (ie. remnants of Team Einarson)

I think she'll be pleased with her new 3rd, the always improving Selena Njgevon (formely Kaatz) who finally came out of her shell last season and almost nabbed a canadian championship in a spirited contest vs. Jones.

Can't put her in the Top 5 - quite yet. McCarville is a proven commodity who usually doesn't start curling til later in the season due to job committments.

It's tough enough to pick winners when you know all the participants. But when six out of the nine countries have yet to announce their representatives, as is the case now, predictions quickly become a fool's game.

Having said that, I think McDonald/Morris will do well but I don't particularly like the chances of our other reps.

Anna Sidorova still relevant but the other Russian team and Anna would be in the #6 to #8 group.

Muirhead has not thrown a brick for more than five months and at this juncture there is no word on her recovery or when she even intends to start the 2018/19 season. In the interim, until she does return and proves she can be competitive, I do not believe she should have a provisional 3rd place current ranking. Seems to me that's like assigning Colleen a provisional 2nd place rating just in case she decides to come out of retirement!

The team ranked 4th is called a Top Asian Team. Who in the world ( pardon the pun ) is that? Don't they have a name?

And one of the teams, number five, is something called "Swiss#2". Is this actually a Swiss curling team? Sounds more like some kind of a sloppy sandwich you would buy at a Swiss fast-food outlet!

Injury aside, I ranked Eve Muirhead high due mainly to reputation and accomplishment. She's still quite the tour de force all by herself - the one player on tour who can win games solely on the basis of her shot-making ability.

Her team is very good - world class but nowhere near the level of teams skipped by Homan, Jones, Hasselborg, even Tirinzoni, heck maybe even Einarson

Last couple years Eve, like many upper echelon skips has started missing routine shots, muffing on hard doubles which used to be her stock in trade. This slight decline is more obvious with Jen Jones - but JJ is 44, its also happening to Rachel Homan, as she slipped on so many banana peels at last year's Olympics it was laughable. Sweeting also started to show decline before making her move to 3rd (w/ Einarson)

The only skips who seem to actually be improving are Anna Hasselborg (obvious) and Casey Scheidegger (not so obvious). Both ladies continue to improve their sharp-shooting - Hasselborg to the extent she's clearly ghe world's #1 team

Eve Muirhead’s return to competition has just happened, and it ended with a run back for 3 to give them the victory over Yoshimura by a final score of 8-6. The team has posted the shot on their Twitter feed here: